![]() ![]() Ebooks are dead – you know, screen fatigue and all that – and audiobooks are the only digital format that matters.Įbook downloads were up 40%, to 289 million.Īnd it seems many more consumers were waiting to be screen-fatigued but just were on the hold/wait list. Here’s how the OverDrive 2020 download numbers panned out:Īudiobook downloads were up 20% on 2019, to an impressive 138 million. Or then again perhaps the narrative that ebooks are yesterday’s format is more wishful thinking by Old School Publishing than reality. More impressive still, 102 library systems saw over one million downloads each, with the bigger players reporting even stronger public interest.įor the first time two US libraries surpassed 7 million downloads each, while Canada’s Toronto Library exceeded 8 million.Ĭanada, the US and Singapore led the way – Singapore saw a staggering 6 million downloads from a population of 5.8 million people – with Australia and New Zealand libraries also seeing 1 million or more downloads.Īs we all know, ebooks are history and it is only audiobooks keeping the digital flag flying, so perhaps OverDrive mis-typed its audiobook and ebook numbers. OverDrive, on the other hand, does, and we now know OverDrive’s total global digital downloads in 2020 jumped 33% from 366 million in 2019 to 430 million last year. ![]() We won’t of course know the full numbers for ebooks at any time, as Nielsen only tracks a portion of mainstream publishers, while small presses, indie authors and APub don’t share data in any meaningful way. Digital book sales had their best year ever too, despite so many people being stuck at home staring at screens and watching Netflix 24/7. Proof positive that screen fatigue, Netflix and the lack of that all important “book smell” has finally killed off digital books. US print sales had their best year since 2010, rising 8.2% according to the latest Nielsen BookScan figures. But the idea that audiobooks are capturing the ebook market and relegating the digital text format to history is clearly just not true. ![]() Print of course remains king, although bricks & mortar booksellers face existential challenges as 2021 unfolds, with no sign of the pandemic abating. ![]()
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